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Read the following extract and complete the Activity
at the bottom of the page:
Extract from:
The
Scot in British North America
Chapter VIII - Journalism and Literature
Alexander McLachlan, poet and lecturer, is the son
of a Scottish mechanic, and was born in the village
of Johnstone, Renfrewshire, in the year 1820.
He is largely self-educated his schooling having
been very limited; but being of a studious and
thoughtfu1 disposition he early gained an extensive
knowledge of English literature.
He
followed for some years the trade of a tailor, and
during his youth took a leading part in the Chartist
movement, which at that time flourished in Britain.
His poems are largely tinged with the spirit of this
agitation, Mr. McLachlan having through life
retained a strong sympathy for the victims of social
injustice and oppression.
In
1840 he emigrated to Canada, quitting the needle for
the axe and the plough. He settled in the backwoods,
and his rich experience in the hardships and
struggles, triumphs and pleasures of life in the
bush, furnished the material for some of his most
characteristic poems.
Mr.
McLachlan published several volumes of poetry, the
last, which embraced the cream of his previous
writings as well as many new poems, appearing in
1874. In the same year he revisited Scotland, where
he delivered many lectures and addresses, dealing
with Canadian life, and literary and philosophical
subjects.
Much
of Mr. McLachlan’s poetry is well worthy of a place
beside the utterances of more celebrated British
bards, who, by the accident of residence near the
heart of the empire, have attained a renown which no
Canadian, no matter how deserving, could hope to
acquire. He is pre-eminently one of the poets who,
according to the old proverb, are "born, not made."
His
style is simple and natural ... but appeals to the
strongest and most deeply-seated emotions of
humanity. The clearness and simplicity of his
writings are in marked contrast to the involved
sentences and confused meaning of the
"incomprehensible" school of poetic thought so much
in vogue.
He is
a poet of the people, and has much of the freshness
and spontaneity, as well as the force and beauty of
Burns, whose influence appears traceable in
McLachlan’s mode of thought and expression. His
poems breathe an intense love for nature and the
freedom and freshness of rural life, and he has
given some of the finest descriptions of the
glorious scenery of our forests, rivers and lakes.
Mr.
McLachlan, who is still engaged in farming, is one
of the most genial and loveable of men. He has rare
conversational powers, and when in congenial society
his native eloquence and humour impart a vivid
interest to every subject upon which he touches.
Activity - (work on paper) :
-
Read the extract above which
deals with the life and poetry of Alexander
McLachlan.
Then make up seven questions based on the
extract.
Next, ask a classmate to answer the questions
you have set.
Finally, mark your classmate's answers and
discuss your comments on his or her answers.
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